![\"Battle](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Battle-Ground-HS-Choir.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nElling\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outsized self-regard has often overwhelmed the songs he sings. But in Portland, following a laudatory introduction spoken by pianist Bill Charlap, he concentrated on the substance of 15 pieces from Sinatra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s repertoire and was all the better for it. Backed by the Art Abrams Swing Machine, For all of the effectiveness of the band, however, the high point of the concert came after Elling called Charlap from the wings. Their voice-piano duets on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lucky To Be Me\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning\u00e2\u20ac\u009d were perfection. Charlap\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wee Small Hours\u00e2\u20ac\u009d interlude, a moment of pure impressionism, led the two to a quiet ending that left a hush in the hall—until loud, sustained, applause broke out. After the emotional impact of his ballads with Charlap, Elling\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s swaggering \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Kind Of Town\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Lady Is A Tramp\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with the big band were anti-climaxes.<\/p>\n There was more of Charlap to come before the weekend ended, but first another pianist, five years younger, took the stage of the intimate Winningstad Theater. Vijay Iyer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trio has attracted attention through heavy radio play, cover stories in the major jazz magazines and several successful CDs, including the recent Break Stuff<\/a>. Iyer, bassist Stefan Crump and drummer Marcus Iyer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s advanced keyboard technique and his willingness—or eagerness—to take chances resulted in moments of adventurousness like one in which the trio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mutual time play morphed into repetition of a snatch of melody. It might have seemed the antithesis of swing, except that it swung hard, right up to an abrupt ending that left the listener breathless. It is worth noting that from the first of their set Iyer, Crump and Gilmore had the audience. The attention of the listeners was riveted on the music, with none of the whooping and whistling often in evidence at this festival, in fact at most jazz performances in recent years. Toward the end of the set, Iyer spoke his thanks to the audience over a quiet trio vamp with closing chords that somehow brought to mind the romanticism of Edward McDowell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s piano sketches. Then he moved the vamping into churchy chords that, with Gilmore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offbeats, hinted at Ray Bryant. This is an interesting band. <\/p>\n Next time: Christian McBride Trio, and Charlap on Sinatra<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [contextly_auto_sidebar id=”bSJxHQ0ghWA1yfiWNuINjk9dyPdkgrTj”] With the theme of the Portland Jazz Festival centered around the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s birth, two artists with top billing focused on interpreting songs associated with Sinatra. Mini-concerts by winners of the festival\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s student competitions preceded some of the featured performers. Warming up the audience for Kurt Elling, a 20-voice choir […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Elling sang with power, elegance and little of the forced hipness that sometimes mars his work. In \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve Got You Under My Skin,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Witchcraft,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All The Way\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and, particularly, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Worry \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBout Me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he came uncannily close to summoning up Sinatra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s essence. Elling conducted the band, setting the tempos with no-nonsense finger snaps. He allotted generous solo spots to alto saxophonist John Nastos and trumpeter Buzz Graham. <\/p>\n<\/a>Gilmore work in the tradition of rhythmic and improvisational interdependence established by the Bill Evans Trio. As they adjust to one another, they develop streams of time. In Thelonious Monk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Work,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d none of the three played with a 4\/4 beat, but a satisfying undercurrent of 4\/4 feeling emerged from their interaction. Crump\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solo on the piece was typical of his work throughout the set; he was faithful to the form and harmonic structure while within them he made rhythmic departures and invented melodies. In any given piece, whether employing brushes, sticks or mallets, Gilmore makes the drum set another melody instrument.<\/p>\n